Month: August 2021

The Restorative Power of Classical Music on Vinyl

Hot Stamper Classical and Orchestral Pressings Available Now

We often mention the benefits to be gained from regularly listening to classical music. Once a week would make a good rule of thumb for playing a classical record or two I should think.

We all love our rock, jazz, folk and the rest, but there is something about classical music that has the power to restore a certain balance in your musical life that, for whatever reason, cannot be accomplished through other music. Perhaps it grounds your listening experience in something less immediately gratifying, something that grows deeper and more enriching over time. Once the effect has taken hold, the changes in one’s mood are easy to recognize.

Of course it should be pointed out that the average classical record is at best a mediocrity and more often than not a sonic disaster. There are many excellent pressings of rock and jazz, but when it comes to classical music — by its nature so much more difficult to record (and reproduce!) — the choices narrow substantially.

Most of what passed for good classical sound when I was coming up in audio — the DGs, EMIs, Sheffields and other audiophile pressings — are hard to take seriously when played on the modern high quality equipment of today.

We probably audition at least five records for every one we think might pass muster in a future shootout, and we’re pulling only from the labels we know to be good. We wouldn’t even waste our time playing the average Angel, Columbia or DG, or EMI for that matter. The losers vastly outweigh the winners, and there are only so many hours in a day. Who has the time to hunt for so few needles in so many haystacks?

Commitment of Resources

With the above in mind, it should be clear that assembling a top quality classical collection requires much more in the way of resources — money and time — than it would for any other genre of music.

We are happy to do some of that work for you — our best classical pressings are amazing in almost every way — potentially saving you a lifetime of work. But we do so at a price; the service we provide is labor-intensive. And, as you may have noticed, vintage classical records are not getting any cheaper or easier to find.

On the positive side, every Hot Stamper we sell is 100% guaranteed to satisfy in every way: music, sound, and playing condition. Ideally this means less work for you and more time for listening enjoyment, weekly or more if you can manage to carve it out of your schedule.

We’ve auditioned countless pressings in the 38 years we’ve been in business — buying, cleaning and playing them by the thousands.

This is how we find the best sounding vinyl pressings ever made, through trial and error. It may be expensive and time consuming, but there is simply no other method for finding better records that works. If you know of one, please write me!

We are not the least bit interested in records that are “known” to sound the best.

Known by whom? Which audiophiles — hobbyists or professionals, take your pick — can be trusted to know what they are talking about when it comes to the sound of records?

I have never met one, outside of those of us who work for Better Records. I remain skeptical of the existence of such a creature. The audiophile experts and reviewers I’ve encountered on the web seem hopelessly lost to me.

UPDATE 2024

Woops, I take that back. I have met one, a certain Mr. Robert Brook. He has been conducting his own shootouts for a few years now and has made his findings available on his blog, The Broken Record. You can trust the information he posts there.

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Bob Marley & the Wailers – Burnin’

More Bob Marley

    • Burnin’ returns to the site after more than 6 years, with STUNNING Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound or close to it throughout
    • Bigger and bolder, with more bass, more energy, and more of that “you-are-there-immediacy” of VINTAGE ANALOG that set the best pressings apart from reissues, CDs, and whatever else you care to name
    • Features some of the band’s most legendary releases, including Get Up, Stand Up and I Shot The Sheriff
    • 5 stars: “… [these] songs illuminated the desperation of poor Jamaican life, but they also looked forward to religious salvation, their themes accentuated by the compelling rhythms and the alternating vocals of the three singers.”

Two killer sides for this Island pressing. We’ve been auditioning quite a few Bob Marley records lately and this is one of the better sounding recordings he ever made.

This is widely regarded as one of the most essential reggae albums ever recorded. There are two big hits here — Get Up, Stand Up and I Shot The Sheriff — but there’s plenty of other great songs as well.

We’re always searching for more copies, but it takes time to acquire enough for a good shootout. Bob Marley vinyl tends to get snatched up pretty quickly no matter where you are, probably because he’s one of those artists who seems to endear himself to each new generation of music lovers. You can see teenagers wearing Bob Marley shirts in just about every part of the world to this day, so it’s no wonder that his records don’t sit in the bins for long. (more…)

The Mothers – We’re Only In It For The Money

More Frank Zappa

Reviews and Commentaries for the Music of Frank Zappa

  • This stunning two-pack boasts Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound on side one and an outstanding Double Plus (A++) side two
  • The sound is huge and spacious with richness and Tubey Magic like nothing you’ve heard
  • Most copies we played were just too thin and crude-sounding to capture our attention — we played a good-sized stack of copies and these two were the ones that stood out and made the music work for us – and it will be quite a while before we are likely able to find any others
  • 5 stars: “… the music reveals itself as exceptionally strong, and Zappa’s politics and satirical instinct have rarely been so focused and relevant, making We’re Only in It for the Money quite probably his greatest achievement.”

Excellent sound for both sides of this wacky album! Any fan of the Mothers should know by now that this isn’t a very sonically impressive recording, but the sound on these Super Hot Stamper sides went far beyond what we heard elsewhere. It was a blast hearing what a serious pressing could do in relation to the mediocre copies I’ve played for so many years. And there are certainly some good sounding parts, but the presentation of the music is so wacky and lo-fi at times that I don’t want to raise expectations to an unreasonable level.

Don’t expect miracles here, nothing is going to turn this album into a stunning Demo Disc. However, those of you who love the music and want to hear what a serious pressing of this insane platter can do should get a kick out of this excellent sounding copy. I don’t think you can find better sound for this album no matter what you do. Your satisfaction is as always 100% guaranteed. (more…)

I’ve Got the World on a String on Classic Records Vinyl

More of the Music of Louis Armstrong

More Pop and Jazz Vocals

Sonic Grade: B (probably)

I first heard this album on the wonderful Classic Records pressing from the ’90s. I remember really enjoying the music and liking the sound of Bernie Grundman’s remaster very much. We reviewed and recommended the album (along with Under the Stars) in our old paper catalogs.

I have no idea what I would think of their version these days — well, to be honest I do have some idea of what I would think of it — but their version is at least good enough to make the case that Russell Garcia’s orchestral arrangements and Louis Armstrong’s sublime skill at interpreting The Great American Songbook are a match made in heaven.

Further Reading

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Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’66 – Another Spitty and Thin MoFi

More of the Music of Sergio Mendes and Brasil ’66

Sonic Grade: D

An Audiophile Hall of Shame pressing and another MoFi LP reviewed and found wanting.

So spitty and thin! Why, in God’s name, why would you want to ruin such a wonderful recording?

When you have a recording that is already plenty bright, adding top end and taking out more lower midrange is the last thing in the world you should be doing. Since that was the standard operating procedure for MoFi and other Half-Speed mastering outfits around this time, that’s exactly the approach they ended up taking.

Those of you who have had the opportunity to play the Mobile Fidelity pressing of this record should know what a disaster it is.

Is brighter better? Apparently Mobile Fidelity thinks so. It sounds like a bad CD.

But it’s not a bad CD. It’s an expensive audiophile record!

If you’ve spent any time on this site, you should know by now that many audiophile records sound WORSE than the typical CD.

The typical CD does not have an equalization curve resembling a smile. The classic smile curve starts up high on the left, gets low in the middle, and rises again at the end, resulting in boosted bass, boosted top end, and a sucked out midrange — the Mobile Fidelity formula in a nutshell.

But they forgot to boost the bass on this album, so it’s closer to a half-smile I suppose.

More letters, reviews and commentaries for the debut album by Sergio Mendes and Brasil ’66

There’s a Riot Goin’ On – From the Analog Master!

More of the Music of Sly and the Family Stone

Sonic Grade: F

Ouch this record sounds bad. Some of the worst sound I have ever heard on Heavy Vinyl. The average cassette sounds better than this piece of crap.

My notes:

Side one: track one is thin and hard. Track two is not very tubey and the sibilance is harsh.

Side two: track two is full and tubey but track three shows that the sound may be tubey but it is very compressed.

But some people think that records that were made from the analog master tapes should sound good. 

Especially when those records were pressed on virgin vinyl.

But do they?

This one sure doesn’t. What could possibly have gone wrong?

We have no idea. We just play the records and listen to them. We let them tell us if they are wrong or right.

This one told us it may have been made from good tapes — may have been, the good folks at Columbia records might be lying to us about that, it wouldn’t be the first time and I certainly would not put it past them — but it sure wasn’t made very well.

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Horace Silver – Horace-Scope

  • This superb stereo pressing boasts nearly Double Plus (A++) sound from start to finish
  • This shootout was years in the making – few copies survived in this kind of audiophile playing condition, and fewer still – far fewer still – sound as good as this one does (thanks RVG!), so Silver fans should get while the gettin’ is good
  • 4 stars: “…every selection is full of soulful grooves and well-honed group interplay, the qualities that made this band perhaps the top hard bop outfit of the early ’60s. Silver was in the midst of a hot streak that wouldn’t let up for another few years, and Horace-Scope is another eminently satisfying effort from that period.”

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Lucky for Us the First Copy We Played Was Outstanding

Hot Stamper Pressing of Living Stereo Titles Available Now

The first copy of the album I got my hands on and needle-dropped blew me away with its big, open, clear, solid orchestral sound.

Three years later, when we had enough copies to do this shootout, sure enough it won. That rarely happens — in a big pile of records there’s almost always something better than whatever we’ve heard — but it happened this time.

Imagine if I had played one of the bad sounding or noisy ones to start with.

It’s unlikely I would have been motivated to pursue the title and consequently the shootout we just did would have never happened. Lucky for us all that that first copy was so good.

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Back to the Stone Age with The Pines of Rome on Mobile Fidelity

Click Here to See Our Favorite Pines of Rome

An audiophile hall of shame pressing and another MoFi LP reviewed and found wanting.

MoFi’s version of this The Pines of Rome (#1-507) is one of the worst sounding classical records they ever made, and that’s saying something, because most of their classical catalog is awful.

Thin, bright, with sloppy bass and completely unnatural string tone — the MoFi makes the typical Classic Record sound good.

And that’s REALLY saying something.

The UHQR is somewhat better, especially in the lower octaves, but it’s maybe a D+ or C-, not a Better Record by any means.

How dull and opaque does a stereo have to be to make this record listenable?

The answer is VERY dull and VERY opaque.

Stone Age audio systems are the only ones that can play junk like this and get away with it.       

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Marvin Gaye – Let’s Get It On

More Marvin Gaye

More Soul, Blues, and R&B

  • A KILLER sounding copy with Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound or close to it from first note to last
  • One of the better sounding Marvin Gaye records we do shootouts for – this copy is big and rich, just the way we like ’em
  • Forget whatever dead-as-a-doornail Heavy Vinyl record they’re making these days – if you want to hear the Tubey Magic, size and energy of this groundbreaking album from 1973, you need a vintage pressing that sounds as good as this one does
  • 5 stars: “… no other record has ever achieved the kind of sheer erotic force of Let’s Get It On, and it remains the blueprint for all of the slow jams to follow decades later — much copied, but never imitated.”

It’s surprising how good some of the classic soul albums from the early ’70s can sound. Let’s Get It On is up there with Stevie Wonder’s Innervisions as albums that offer sound every bit as good as the music.

We had a big stack of copies (it took us ages to pull so many together) and many of them left us cold. When I’m listening to music this important, I don’t want to miss a thing. On the best copies, it was a truly special experience to hear Gaye’s music sound so good. (more…)